Burn the Memories
by miss mcGonagle
Summary: Severus knows it's time to break things off with Hermionme and takes away the one reminder of their happiness. HGSS angst. Oneshot.


**Hello, it's me again with another contest entry for that awesome HP site known as The Hideaway...if you want more information about that, please see my author's profile.**

**I hate to beg for reviews, but this thing took me days to write...ridiculous since it's only 1000 words, but I had such trouble with it that I would really appreciate you dear readers leaving me a note and letting me know if it was worth the trouble!**

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

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Severus Snape knew that she would wait for the other students to leave the room before she approached his desk, and then what was he to do? Break her heart? He knew when it all began that he would have to do that eventually, but still he dreaded it. Even as he watched her make her way up to the front of the room he wished he could put off what he was about to do, if only for another day.

When she a mere few feet away, Severus stood and stared down at her, trying to keep his expression cold and impassive.

"This has to end," he said quietly, but firmly. "It would be best to destroy all reminders of our time together and just move on."

"Why?" Hermione asked after a pause, a suspicious and hurt look in her eyes. "Am I so wrong for you that-"

"No, I'm the one who is wrong for _you_. You deserve better, and besides, a relationship now is just far too dangerous for the both of us."

"But what about what I want?" Hermione asked him sadly, tears sliding down her face.

"What you or I want is not important anymore, Hermione," Severus told her, "what's important now is keeping you safe."

"I don't care about being safe, Severus," Hermione told him forcefully, "I care about you!"

"I know," Severus whispered. He closed his eyes and fought the tears that wanted to escape. "God help me, I know."

"Then please don't push me away," she pleaded.

Her hand rose up to caress his cheek but he stopped it by taking her hand in his and placing it back at her side.

"I have to."

Hermione stared up at the man she had fallen so deeply in love with and when his eyes met hers, she realized that he really meant to break things off. Her eyes welled up with tears again.

"Severus please," her voice cracked as she pleaded with him once more, but he turned away.

"You have a picture of the two of us, I believe," he said, his voice suddenly brisk and businesslike. "Destroy it please, it will be best if you do."

"No," Hermione spoke vehemently. "I will not. If you insist upon ending this relationship I suppose I can't stop you, but you have to let me keep at least one reminder of how happy we were together."

"No Hermione, I'm telling you to burn that picture and just forget about all of this."

"But I don't want to forget!"

Someone knocked on the classroom door and opened it a second later.

"Ah good afternoon Miss Granger, I was just stopping by to speak with Professor Snape about the Ravenclaw and Slytherin Quidditch match tomorrow, but if now is a bad time I could come back later…"

Hermione did not respond and pushed past a bewildered Professor Flitwick as she hurried from the classroom.

Hermione's face was flushed with anger and the effort of holding back her tears as she sat down on the edge of her bed in the sixth year girl's dormitory and slid open the drawer of the sidetable next to her bed. Inside was a box where she kept letters from her parents. Hermione pulled the small stack of letters from the box and gasped. Something was missing.

Hermione hastily flipped through the bundle of letters in her hands, looking for the picture she had kept hidden in an envelope underneath the other letters. But it was not there and even a Summoning charm did not produce what she was looking for.

With a small moan of despair, Hermione finally gave up; crawled back onto the mattress, pulled the curtains closed and cast a Silencing charm around her bed. Then she covered her face with her hands and hoped the charm would prevent the other sixth year girls from hearing her sobs.

Earlier that day, hours before Severus had done his best to break Hermione's heart; a house elf by the name of Tiffy had been summoned from the school kitchens to the office of the Potions master in the dungeons. The little elf had bowed low to the ground and when the man had given his request the house elf had blinked in surprise, but she had dared not disobey a teacher. Following orders, the little creature left the office and made her way to the Gryffindor tower where she did the unthinkable and stole something from one of the students.

When the house elf had completed her task she had returned to the Potions master with the envelope he had requested. The elf was submissive by nature, but her curiosity had been raised by the mysterious errand and by the single tear that had traced a path down the face of the normally frightening man as he opened the envelope and looked at what was inside.

"Is there anything else, sir?" Tiffy asked while simultaneously wondering if she would ever know what was inside the envelope and berating herself for her own curiosity.

"No, that's all, thank you." The words came out as a whisper, Severus was only vaguely aware that the elf was still there, his eyes and thoughts were fixed upon the picture in his hands.

After the house elf had disappeared, Severus ran his thumb over the face of the smiling young woman in the picture.

"I know you won't do this yourself so I'll have to do it for you," he whispered softly to the small image of Hermione that stood next to his own image in the picture. "I am sorry, Hermione. For everything."

Severus pulled his wand from the pocket of his robes and tapped it lightly against the picture, which instantly caught fire. He dropped the burning photograph onto the dungeon floor and watched as the picture, as well as his own hopes and desires, curled up in the flames and then disintegrated into a pile of ash on the cold stone floor.

The End


End file.
